Not even half of new sites have rainwater harvesting

Despite regulations in 2010 mandating rainwater harvesting on construction sites, only a fourth of the new sites have it

With PMC making strategising desperately at the eleventh hour to stop water wastage, property tax department’s statistics from last four years reveals a lethargic approach by the civic body in implementing mandatory norms for setting up rainwater harvesting project in every new site.

Despite the rules issued in 2010, a little more than 25% of the sites in the city have made provisions for increasing groundwater reservoir in the ongoing year (see box). If statistics are to be believed, at present only 2,601 properties in the city’s jurisdiction have completed rainwater harvesting projects in 2014, against an estimated total of 10,000 sites.

“The city witnesses 10,000 new buildings every year. This means nearly 40,000 new flats are available every year. In 2010, instituting rain harvesting projects became mandatory. But the data show that not all sites have equipped with these projects,” PMC tax department head Hemant Nikam said.

He added that it is the responsibility of PMC’s building department to check if the construction site has rainwater harvesting projects before giving completion certificate. The data show that in the ongoing year, 452 sites have rain harvesting projects,136 have rain and solar projects, while 2,013 sites have rain plus vermiculture projects.

The only positive sign is rainwater harvesting projects are consistently on the higher side since last four years.